PETERSFIELD.
PETTY SESSIONS.—Tuesday.—Present, the Hon. J. J. Carnegie (Chairman), Sir J. C. Jervoise, Bart., M.P., Sir W. Knighton, Bart., J. Bonham-Carter, Esq., M.P., and J. Waddington, Esq.
— Charles Stanley and Charles Burgess were convicted of trespassing in search of rabbits in the parish of Catherington, on Sunday, January 13th, and fined 10s. 6d. each, with joint costs, 12s. 6d.
— John Josiah Carpenter (alias Turner), and Stephen Cooper, were charged with stealing three tame rabbits, belonging to Samuel Woodbourne, at Liss, on Friday, January 18th. Turner pleaded guilty; Cooper pleaded not guilty; but the only ground of such plea was that he stood in the road and received the rabbits from Turner, who went into the shed and got them, and handed them to him over the hedge. They were both convicted, but as Turner had been in trouble before, and Cooper receiving a good character from G. E. Coryton, Esq., who had known him from his childhood, the magistrates sentenced the former to two months’, and the latter to one months’ imprisonment with hard labour.
— Richard Smart, a well-dressed and respectable looking man, was brought up in custody, charged as a rogue and vagabond with obtaining money under false pretences. Prisoner went on Friday last to Mr. Robert Pocock, painter, in Dragon-street, Petersfield, and solicited a contribution in aid of a society called the ‟Mariners Friend Society,” of which he stated that he was a missionary and authorized collector. He produced a prospectus of the society, with a list of patrons and subscribers, and also a parchment document purporting to be his official credentials, signed by the secretary, &c. Mr. Pocock gave him 2s. 6d., for which prisoner handed him a printed receipt, which he took from a cheque book; but on examination there was no corresponding counterfoil found in the book, and several leaves had been torn out. Prisoner. had also in his possession a long list of names of persons living in Gosport, the Isle of Wight, Brighton, and other places, from, whom he said he was collecting subscriptions. After a lengthened hearing the case was remanded till Tuesday next, to afford opportunity for further enquiry. Bail was refused. (see also 7-Feb-1867)